Earlier this year, Leon County school leaders raised concerns about student behavior. Now, one Northwest Tallahassee middle school says two new programs are making a difference.
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW:
Two new programs at Griffin Middle School help Tallahassee students make better choices, principal says
ABC 27 went to Griffin Middle School to find out how two new programs are helping students make better choices.
Back in March, ABC 27’s Lentheus Chaney told you about concerns over student behavior across Leon County Schools. At a March 10 school board meeting, Superintendent Rocky Hanna said the district was still dealing with a troubling trend.
“We have noticed an upper trend and aggressive behaviors by our students coming out of the pandemic that trend unfortunately has continued,” Hanna said.
But at Griffin Middle School, Principal Kerri Anderson says she’s seeing progress. She credits two new programs introduced this school year.
The first, called Relax and Roar, rewards students for making good choices. Students who meet behavior and academic expectations earn 30 minutes of free time on Fridays. Anderson says that’s giving students something to look forward to.
“The number of kids who are making positive choices has increased. And it’s in their language. They’re making it to class because they don’t want to miss Relax and Roar,” Anderson said.
The second program is called SmartPass. It’s a digital hall pass that lets teachers track where students are supposed to be and how long they’ve been out of class. Anderson says it’s helping reduce class skipping and prevent conflicts between students.
“Major improvements in behavior. Our disciplinary referrals are majorly down from last year. When we looked at data for the same time period last year and this year, we noticed a major difference,” Anderson said.
Anderson says both programs are helping create a culture of accountability at Griffin. But while she reports fewer disciplinary referrals, we’re still working to get the actual numbers to see how this year compares to last.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website.
Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.